Department for Transport

Parking: Databases

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to provide long-term funding to the National Parking Platform.

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the long-term funding requirements of the the National Parking Platform.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department has funded the development of a pilot national parking platform. Learning from the pilot is being used to inform longer term options.

Seaborne Freight

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 133995 on Seaborne Freight, how much his Department spent in total on fees to commercial advisors for advice on the 2018-19 ferry contracts.

Mr Richard Holden: The potential value of the contracts entered into, which provided contingency arrangements for the transport of critical goods, was £102.5 million, including the subsequently cancelled Seaborne Freight contract. The total paid by the Department for Transport in fees to commercial advisers outside Government for advice on negotiating and terminating the 2018-19 ferry contracts was £2.1 million.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a 12 month grace period for compliance with a Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate if the scheme is introduced in January 2024.

Jesse Norman: The adoption of a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate for new cars and vans was confirmed in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy in October 2021, following a public consultation that launched in July 2021. In April 2022 we consulted on its policy design features to engage further on the future regulation, and a third and final consultation outlining our final full proposal is due to be published soon. These proposals will be subject to consultation, where the Department will take stakeholder views into consideration before bringing forward the legislation to enter into force next year.

Menston Station: Access

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the works on the accessible footbridge at Menston railway station will be completed.

Huw Merriman: Works to make Menston station accessible with funding from our Access for All programme is underway and due to be completed by April 2024.

Great British Railways

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many votes each of the six shortlisted locations for the new national headquarters for Great British Railways received in the public vote conducted between 5 July and 15 August 2022.

Huw Merriman: We will announce the chosen location for the Great British Railways Headquarters (GBR HQ) before Easter. A number of factors are being considered, including the result of the public vote. The number of votes cast for each location will be made public when we announce the winner.

Bus Services: Finance

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to extend Bus Recovery Grant funding beyond March 31 2023.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government has made available nearly £2 billion since March 2020, through emergency and recovery grants, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the bus sector. This support is currently in place until the end of March 2023. The Department is actively considering its support for the bus sector from April 2023 and will set out further details shortly.

Driving Licences: Lost Property

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of drivers licences the DVLA has lost in each year since 2018.

Mr Richard Holden: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given on 31 January 2023 to Parliamentary Question 132421.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what are the requirements that (a) a vessel and (b) an operator must meet to operate in offshore wind in both territorial waters and the UK exclusive economic zone.

Mr Richard Holden: The Statutory Certification requirements for a vessel to operate in offshore wind in both territorial waters and the UK exclusive economic zone (EEZ) depends on the vessel type. The most common type of vessel operating in this sector is a High-Speed Offshore Service Craft (HSOSC). HSOSC’s are permitted to operate with up to 60 industrial personnel (walk to work) with a vessel less than 500 gross tonnage (GT). This can be up to 150nm from the UK coast, which would then include the EEZ. This would need to be certified in accordance with the HS(OSC) Code. Other types of vessels that work within this sector such as Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), Mobile Offshore Unit (MOU), Mobile Offshore Windfarm Unit (MOWU) are subject to the same statutory requirements as a cargo vessel. When workboats are used they are restricted to 12 passengers onboard, that are not crew. Special Purpose Vessel (SPS) over 500GT carrying more than 12 passengers are certificated as passenger vessels or under the Special Purpose Ships Safety (SPS) Code (MGN 674(M)). Any Offshore Supply Vessel, Emergency Response Rescue Vessel (ERRV) or conventional cargo vessel would be certificated with the applicable conventions subject to the GT and/or length, or UK legislation where they are outside of the applicable limits of the appropriate convention. Operators need to contact the MCA to verify that the vessels are appropriately certified. Some vessel types may require compliance with the ISM Code which requires operators to hold a Document of Compliance (DoC).

Dangerous Driving

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to create a specific criminal offence for people who cause death or injury by dangerous driving.

Mr Richard Holden: There are currently criminal offences that cover these matters. However, we keep the law under review and listen to the concerns of those affected by tragic cases of death or serious injury. The Government is considering a Call for Evidence on motoring offences. while the potential scope and timings are being confirmed, it is expected that it will include issues around drink and drug driving, and the offence of failure to stop and report. There may also be the opportunity to highlight other areas of concern.

Public Transport: Crimes of Violence and Harassment

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of (a) physical assaults, (b) sexual assaults and (c) incidences of harassment on public transport.

Huw Merriman: No one should have to face the risk of violence when travelling. We are taking action to make sure our transport network is safe for all. The Government appointed independent Champions to advise on violence against women and girls on transport in 2021, who then published 13 recommendations in March 2022. We are working with partners across industry and Government to deliver against those. The British Transport Police (BTP)’s 61016 text service and Railway Guardian app encourage reporting of incidents. Operation Cerium provides an enhanced visible presence to reassure staff and the public. We are also supporting the Rail Delivery Group and BTP to reduce work-related violence on the rail network by 25% by May 2024. The 2021 National Bus Strategy set out that the sector should strive for the highest safety standards. Bus Service Improvement Plans should demonstrate how Local Transport Authorities, bus operators, and other stakeholders will work together to ensure that bus services are safe for all.

Cabinet Office

Public Sector: Fraud

Julian Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using new technology such as artificial intelligence to find and prevent fraud across the public sector.

Jeremy Quin: The Cabinet Office’s Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) is investing in new technologies that will increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to detect and prevent fraud. This includes the use of predictive analytics, a field of AI, that uses supervised machine learning techniques to predict the likelihood of fraud within a given area of spending.For example a recent Cabinet Office contract award to build a Single Network Analytics Platform for the public sector, features AI and ML capabilities. This platform is for use by public bodies to access data that will help them identify fraud and actors who present a threat.The PSFA’s approach is to ‘test and learn’ and to carefully apply AI and ML where appropriate, each time proving its merits, and then expanding where a viable use case exists.

Government Departments: Energy

Ruth Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason some Government buildings are lit internally outside of normal working hours.

Jeremy Quin: The Government Property Agency (GPA) in the Cabinet Office manages government office buildings on behalf of occupying departments. This response is limited to the office estate that it manages.There are many reasons why government buildings could be lit outside normal working hours. For example, cleaning, engineering, and security teams all carry out duties out of hours, alongside civil servants and ministers undertaking urgent tasks.. This work could not be done without internal lighting in government buildings.

Emergencies: Planning

Bob Seely: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to increase the Government’s strategic resilience in relation to matters of national importance.

Jeremy Quin: With the increasing volatility and interconnectedness of risks, strong national resilience is more important than ever. The UK Government’s Resilience Framework, published in December 2022, sets out a strategic approach to strengthening the systems and capabilities that underpin our collective resilience to all risks.Work is already underway across Government to deliver on the principles and approach in the Framework and to act on lessons from recent crises. We have already refreshed the National Security Risk Assessment and will be updating the public National Risk Register later in the year. The Prime Minister has approved a new sub-committee of the National Security Council dedicated to resilience, led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. We have also strengthened Cabinet Office crisis and resilience structures. The new Resilience Directorate leads on longer-term resilience planning, alongside the COBR Unit which leads on national crisis response and contingency planning.

Civil Servants: Remote Working

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to encourage civil service staff to return to office working.

Jeremy Quin: Departments are responsible for making corporate decisions regarding the working arrangements of their staff and a return to greater workplace-working.The Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency wrote to departments, in 2022, to underline the importance of workplace attendance and clear guidance for staff in this regard - progress continues to be closely monitored. Departments will have in place local arrangements in response to this; information is not collected centrally on methods to encourage staff to return to workplaces.Data on Civil Service headquarters occupancy is published weekly on GOV.UK and split out by individual departments. This data can be accessed at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data

Department of Health and Social Care

Protective Clothing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses published on 30 January 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of that report's recommendations on wearing of face masks; and if he will make it his policy that no patients or visitors are required to wear face masks in NHS settings.

Will Quince: The Government is aware of the Cochrane Review published on 30 January 2023, which concludes that there is uncertainty about whether wearing masks helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses based on the studies assessed.The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM), published in April 2022, is consistent with the recommendations in the Cochrane Review. The NIPCM is used by healthcare providers in all healthcare settings in England and is complemented by pathogen/disease specific guidance produced by UKHSA.The NIPCM does not require patients or visitors to NHS settings to routinely wear a face mask. However, there are some circumstances where it is recommended by a local risk assessment that patients and visitors to care settings wear masks. For example, where patients are at high risk of infection due to immunosuppression.

Emergency Calls

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many abandoned 999 calls there were in each month since January 2018 broken down by (a) region and (b) nation where data is available.

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many abandoned 111 calls there were in each month since January 2018 broken down by each (a) region and (b) nation where information is available.

Will Quince: The number of abandoned 999 calls is not collected centrally.Data on NHS 111 calls abandoned after waiting 30 seconds or more per month between January 2018 and March 2021 in England can be accessed here:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/iucadc-new-from-april-2021/nhs-111-minimum-data-set/nhs-111-minimum-data-set-2020-21/ Data on NHS 111 calls abandoned per month between April 2021 and December 2022 in England can be accessed here:Source: Statistics » Integrated Urgent Care Aggregate Data Collection (IUCADC including NHS111) Statistics Apr 2022-Mar 2023 (england.nhs.uk)Health and care is largely a devolved matter. The Department does not hold data on call answer performance in the devolved nations.

Members: Correspondence

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 2 November2022 from the SEND in The Specialists Coalition on the specialist workforce for children and young people.

Maria Caulfield: This letter was responded to by Minister Claire Coutinho of Department for Education as the relevant Minister on the 6 February 2023.

Health Services: Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the plan to recover urgent and emergency care services, if he will publish a breakdown of how the £1 billion funding for that purpose will be spent.

Will Quince: The delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services was published on 30 January 2023 and included a commitment of £1 billion of dedicated funding to support capacity in urgent and emergency services. This will include 5,000 new beds as part of the permanent bed base for next winter, as well as increases in ambulance and out-of-hospital capacity. There is currently no plan to publish a full breakdown of this spend.

NHS: Pay

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average annual cost to the public purse of NHS agency staff; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of pay rates for agency staff on the pay rate of NHS employees.

Will Quince: In 2016 NHS England introduced price caps for agency shifts, setting out the recommended maximum hourly charge that a trust should pay for agency staff. As a consequence of this and other measures, agency spend remained stable at approximately £2.4 billion per year from 2017/18 to 2020/21.For National Health Service employees, the Pay Review Body (PRB) process is the established mechanism for determining pay uplifts in the public sector, outside of negotiating multi-year pay and contract reform deals. As the PRBs are independent, we cannot pre-empt their recommendations, and we will carefully consider their reports when we receive them later this year.As a result of the 2022/23 pay recommendations, over one million NHS staff including nurses, paramedics and midwives have received at least a £1,400 increase.

Physiotherapy

Sir Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS plan entitled Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services published on 30 January 2023, if he will hold discussions with the Community Rehabilitation Alliance on (a) expanding and (d) developing the rehabilitation workforce.

Will Quince: Our ministers are planning to have a discussion with the Community Rehabilitation Alliance to discuss the rehabilitation workforce soon.

NHS: Staff

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage young adults to work for the NHS.

Will Quince: The National Health Service has launched its fifth consecutive national recruitment campaign ‘We are the NHS’ to inspire people to consider a career in healthcare and increase applications for healthcare courses. Healthcare students are able to apply for a range of financial support to help them through their studies. For example, eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health professional students can access a non-repayable training grant of at least £5,000 per academic year. The Government continues to widen access to NHS careers through blended learning and apprenticeship routes, including the recently announced Medical Doctor Apprenticeship. There were around 20,900 new NHS apprenticeships starts in 2021/22, this makes the NHS the largest employer of apprentices in the public sector by number of starts.

NHS: Labour Turnover

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve staff retention in the NHS.

Will Quince: Retention within the National Health Service is a complex issue and decisions to leave are taken for a multitude of factors. The NHS People Plan and the People Promise focus on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. We have set out a comprehensive range of actions to improve staff retention which focuses on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive NHS culture by strengthening health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working.Building on this work, the NHS Retention Programme seeks to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well. To bolster current support, each NHS organisation is prioritising the delivery of five high impact actions that will impact on early career, experience at work, and late career staff, improving the experience and retention of nursing and midwifery staff.

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia: Screening

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to genetic testing for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia in (a) the UK and (b) Leicestershire.

Will Quince: The NHS Genomic Medicine Service was launched in 2018 to provide consistent and genomically informed care and treatment for patients in the National Health Service in England. This is delivered via seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs), covering the entire geography of England, who operate as part of a national network to deliver the genomic testing as outlined in the National Genomic Test Directory. The East Genomic Laboratory Hub provides and coordinates a wide range of genomic tests for the Leicestershire area. Genomic testing for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia is currently offered through the Test Directory, the testing code for this clinical indication is labelled as R134.NHS England has data collection and monitoring systems in place across all seven NHS GLHs to support service improvements and meet with each region on a quarterly basis to monitor performance.

St James' Hospital Portsmouth: Listed Buildings

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the transfer and sale of St James Hospital in Portsmouth was split into two phases; and what assessment he has made of the impact of transfer of the building on its Grade II listed buildings and curtilage.

Will Quince: Portsmouth NHS Clinical Commissioning Group declared the hospital site as surplus in 2014. NHS Property Services, the owners of the site, engaged with Portsmouth County Council to develop a masterplan which involved a two-phase approach, with the Council inviting Homes England to purchase part of the site was completed in 2015. Phase 1 was for an affordable housing scheme and phase 2 for the conversion of the listed hospital building and new build residential units. The intention was for phase 1 to be developed before the remainder of the site (phase 2) became vacant.The conversion of listed buildings such as St James’ Hospital is a sustainable way of maintaining heritage assets and ensuring their preservation in the long term. The current planning applications for both Homes England’s phase 1 affordable housing scheme and phase 2 for the conversion of the listed buildings and new build residential units, reflect the original masterplan.

Prostate Cancer: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to fund research into new treatment for the most dangerous types of prostate cancers.

Helen Whately: In 2018, the Government announced £75 million towards clinical trials for prostate cancer, with a focus on improving early diagnosis, survival rates, and exploring options for different treatments for men affected by the disease.Since April 2018, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has awarded £73.6 million to 45 prostate cancer research programmes.The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including prostate cancer. The level of research spend in a particular area, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.

Department for Education

Pre-school Education

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of eligible three to four-year-olds are registered for 30 hours per week of free early education and childcare, broken down by each UK (i) nation and (ii) region, as of 7 February 2023.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate, broken down by each UK (a) nation and (b) region, of the number and proportion of all three to four-year-olds who were eligible for 30 hours per week of free education and childcare in each of the last five years.

Claire Coutinho: Statistics relating to the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements are published in the annual ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5. The next release containing January 2023 data is scheduled to be published at the end of June 2023.The 15 and 30-hour entitlements are delivered by local authorities in England and figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.There were 348,126 3- and 4-year-olds who were registered for the 30-hour entitlement in England in January 2022. Figures by English region can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ab1f0941-2272-466d-9347-08db08498a11. This equated to an estimated four in five eligible children in January 2022.In January 2022, an estimated 440,000 3- and 4-year-olds were eligible for the 30-hour entitlement in England, up from an estimated 390,000 in 2018. An estimated 48% of the overall 3- and 4-year-old population in England were eligible for the 30-hour entitlement in 2022, up from an estimated 42% in 2018. Figures from 2018 to 2022, rounded to the nearest 10,000, are attached.These figures are based on Office for National Statistics population estimates, Family Resources Survey data and Survey of Personal Incomes data and is published within the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ statistical release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5.Due to the statistical uncertainty surrounding this estimate derived from survey data, it cannot be provided at a regional level.141436_141438_table (pdf, 101.2KB)

Teachers: Standards

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the level of work being undertaken by teachers on educational outcomes.

Nick Gibb: The Department knows that there are many factors that affect educational outcomes. There is an ongoing programme of research within the Department to understand the level of work being undertaken by teachers and headteachers, and the perceptions of workload across the workforce. It is not possible to draw direct causal links between teacher workload and educational outcomes from the existing evidence base.The Department has taken action to improve teacher and headteacher workload, working with the profession to understand and address longstanding issues around marking, planning and data management. The School Workload Reduction toolkit, developed alongside headteachers, is a helpful resource for schools to use to reduce workload. The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, published in 2021, is a set of commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff and includes an explicit commitment by the Department to drive down unnecessary workload.There was a five-hour reduction in teachers' self-reported working hours between 2016 and 2019. While progress has been made working alongside schools, the Department recognises there is still more to be done. The Department will continue to work together with headteachers, teachers and their representatives to reduce unnecessary workload and promote their wellbeing.

Relationships and Sex Education: Suicide

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2022 to Question 66976 on Relationships and Sex Education: Suicide, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of updating the relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance to include suicide prevention as a compulsory subject.

Nick Gibb: All pupils in schools are taught about mental health as part of the relationships, sex and health Education (RSHE) curriculum, which the Department has made mandatory in 2020 to ensure that all pupils are taught about important topics. Schools can teach older pupils about suicide in an age appropriate and sensitive way.Ministers are aware of the interest in the inclusion of suicide prevention material in the RSHE curriculum and have written to key campaigners about this important topic.The Department is bringing forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance, and the revised guidance will be published in 2024. The Department is taking a comprehensive, evidence based approach in deciding what should be included and suicide prevention will be considered in the review.

Politics: Young People

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government are taking to encourage younger people to get involved with politics.

Nick Gibb: Teaching on political issues, different viewpoints and the way in which pupils can engage in our democratic society is an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum.Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Maintained primary schools and all academies are encouraged to teach citizenship as part of their duty to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments.Secondary school pupils are taught about Parliament and the importance of voting and elections. Pupils are also taught the actions that citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond.The Department has published Political Impartiality in Schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom in a politically impartial way. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools. The guidance is clear that legal duties on political impartiality do not limit the range of political issues and viewpoints schools can and do teach.A number of organisations provide teaching materials to support schools to engage their pupils with politics. UK Parliament offers resources through their website, visits to Parliament, outreach sessions and workshops. Schools can also help pupils to set up their own networks or clubs to focus on political issues.The Department for Culture, Media and Sport provides funding for the UK Youth Parliament programme, which offers 11 to 18-year-olds across the UK the opportunity to debate on issues that matter to them. Young people are elected by other young people in their local areas, on the basis of their manifestos, to represent their local young people nationally. This supports young people to engage in the democratic process and decision making at all levels.

Education and Extracurricular Activities

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote the uptake of (a) extracurricular activities and (b) education for children.

Nick Gibb: The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, sets out the Department’s long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.The White Paper is clear that sport, music and cultural opportunities are an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum. The Department is committed to ensuring young people have opportunities to participate in high quality enrichment activities. The Department supports a range of initiatives to increase these opportunities.The Department’s national plan for music education sets out the vision for music education and details how it can be achieved through partnerships with schools, music hubs, the music and creative sector, and others. The plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-power-of-music-to-change-lives-a-national-plan-for-music-education.The Department is also updating the cross-Government school sport and activity action plan, setting out actions to help all pupils take part in sport and keep fit.The Department is supporting the National Youth Guarantee by providing £3.4 million between 2021 and 2024 to support the Duke of Edinburgh Award to expand into more schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. The Department is also supporting schools to increase participation in cadet schemes.Beyond the school day, the Department is providing over £200 million each year to Local Authorities across England for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. HAF provides free holiday club places with enriching activities and healthy food for children from low income families during the summer, Easter and Christmas school holidays.

Politics: Education

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making political education (a) a compulsory subject and (b) part of (i) personal, social, health and citizenship education and (ii) other subjects in secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: Teaching about political issues, different viewpoints, and the way in which pupils can engage in a democratic society is an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum.Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Within citizenship, secondary pupils in maintained schools in England are taught how Parliament functions, the importance of voting and elections, the role of police, courts and justice, free press, human rights and international law, and the governments of other countries. Pupils are taught the actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments.Maintained primary schools and all academies are encouraged to teach citizenship as part of their duty to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum.Teachers are also able to teach pupils about political and social movements in appropriate places within the history curriculum. This is focused on history, rather than encouraging active participation in democracy, in terms of its purpose.The Department trusts schools to use their professional judgement and understanding of their pupils to develop the right teaching approach for their school, drawing on the expertise and support of subject associations and other organisations such as UK Parliament, which offers resources, visits to Parliament, outreach sessions and workshops.Schools can help pupils to set up their own networks or clubs to focus on political issues, where they are deemed appropriate. The Department published political impartiality in schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom. The guidance is clear that legal duties on political impartiality do not limit the range of political issues and viewpoints schools can teach about. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.

Education: Care Leavers

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve education outcomes for care leavers.

Claire Coutinho: This government is committed to ensuring that all care leavers are supported to succeed in education and achieve positive outcomes.On 2 February, the department published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, our strategy for the reform of children’s social care. The strategy sets out the department’s plans to improve the education, employment, and training outcomes of children in care and care leavers. This includes, from 2027, a year-on-year narrowing of the gap in care leaver higher education participation rates compared to the general population.The department will do this by increasing the support available in both higher and further education including the expansion of the Virtual School Head role to include care leavers up to 25 years old, the introduction of a gold standard accreditation scheme for higher education and further education institutions supporting care leavers, and further £24 million in pupil premium plus style between 2023 and 2025.

Secure Accommodation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places in Secure Children's Homes were available in England and Wales as of 7 February 2023.

Claire Coutinho: A daily record of the number of places available in secure homes on any specified date during the year is not held centrally.The latest information on the number of places available in secure homes in England and Wales, which reflects the position as at 31 March 2022, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-accommodated-in-secure-childrens-homes. Information relating to the 31 March 2023 will be published in May 2023 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/children-accommodated-in-secure-childrens-homes-england-and-wales-31-march-2023.

Asylum: Children

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with charities on support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Claire Coutinho: Department for Education and Home Office officials regularly meet with charities on matters relevant to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The most recent meeting between department officials and a group of charities was on 6 February.

Pre-school Education

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of eligible (a) two-year-olds and (b) three to four-year-olds are registered for 15 hours per week of free early education and childcare, broken down by each UK (i) nation and (ii) region, as of 7 February 2023.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate, broken down by each UK (a) nation and (b) region, of the number and proportion of all two-year-olds who were eligible for 15 hours per week of free education and childcare in each of the last five years.

Claire Coutinho: Statistics relating to the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements are published in the annual 'Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5. The next release containing January 2023 data is scheduled to be published at the end of June 2023.The 15 and 30-hour entitlements are delivered by local authorities in England and figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.There were 135,410 2-year-olds and 1,212,234 3- and 4-year-olds who were registered for the 15-hour entitlement in England in January 2022. These children made up an estimated 72% of eligible 2-year-olds and 92% of all 3- and 4-year-olds respectively. A breakdown of these figures by English region can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/64a833c2-2940-4b9f-933c-08db08498a11.An estimated 188,318 2-year-olds were eligible for the 15-hour entitlement in England in January 2022, compared to 215,879 in January 2018. Figures for 2018 to 2022, including breakdowns by English region, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/acbbfd49-2d45-4b58-4871-08db0841e01e.In 2022, an estimated 30% of all 2-year-olds in England were eligible for the 15-hour entitlement, down from an estimated 32% in 2018. These figures were estimated using Office for National Statistics population estimates and Department for Work and Pensions data on the number of children meeting the benefit and tax credit eligibility criteria. Figures for 2018 to 2022, including breakdowns by English region, are attached.15-hour childcare entitlement eligibility (pdf, 108.2KB)

Children: Social Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to audit the progress of pathfinder local authorities for the Stable Homes, Built on Love programme.

Claire Coutinho: The Families First for Children pathfinder will work with up to 12 local areas to co-design and deliver end-to-end service reform, implementing new Family Help services, child protection arrangements and support for kinship care.The areas for the pathfinder have not yet been selected. The department will operate the pathfinder on a ‘test and learn’ approach, with ongoing evaluation and the support of a delivery partner. This will ensure that the pathfinders are able to iterate and that the system is able to support families, safeguard children and inform us on what national guidance and legislation is needed over time to ensure successful delivery on the ground. The delivery partner will support pathfinders to identify any delivery challenges and report these, along with recommended mitigations, to the department. The partner will also design a live learning strategy, to collate emerging best practice and share this learning with pathfinder areas and across relevant sectors.

Children: Social Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Departments publication entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation published February 2023, what steps she is taking to help implement the strategy in local authorities who are not designated as pathfinder areas over the next two years.

Claire Coutinho: The department has a clear ambition to improve all children’s services across England, as set out in the publication ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love'.Many of the actions set out in our strategy will impact all local authorities. This includes the implementation of our National Framework for Children’s Social Care as well as providing support and training to kinship carers. The department is also supporting local authorities with the recruitment and retention of social workers by taking measures, such as increasing the number of social worker apprenticeships and consulting on the use of agency staff.In the delivery chapter of ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, we have set out the actions that local authorities can take now to create the future system we want to see. This includes creating working conditions that allow workforces to thrive, reviewing the services they commission and provide to make sure they reflect the best evidence, reviewing existing support offers for kinship carers, and reviewing all available opportunities to support children in care and care leavers to build relationships.The department has also outlined where we will be taking a ’test and learn’ approach to establish how to introduce some of the most complex and far-reaching reforms. This includes the Families First for Children Pathfinders, and Regional Care Cooperative Pathfinders. The department will build in opportunities for feedback to ensure learning from the pathfinders is shared across all local authorities.

Social Workers: Training

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation on Guide for children and young people: Stable Homes, Built on Love, published on 2 February 2023, if she will take steps to arrange social worker training on the basis of delivering Stable Homes, Built on Love from September 2023.

Claire Coutinho: The department is investing more than £50 million a year in social worker recruitment, training and development through the Frontline and Step Up programmes, the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, as well as development programmes for children’s social care leaders. The department is working with our delivery partners to ensure our programmes are aligned to the vision for children’s social care, as set out in Stable Homes, Built on Love.The department will strengthen this further by introducing the Early Career Framework (ECF). We will significantly extend the training and support social workers receive in the early stages of their career. We intend to consult on the content of the ECF, alongside working with a number of early adopter local authorities, from September 2023.Ensuring initial training is of the highest possible standard will be key to implementing the reform programme. This is why Social Work England will publish new readiness for practice guidance which will clarify the skills and knowledge all social workers should gain from their initial training, assure all initial training providers by 2025, and strengthen their oversight of Practice Educators.The department will also support the workforce to implement the reform programme by developing Practice Guides, which will bring together the best evidence on achieving the outcomes set out in the children’s social care national framework.

Social Workers: Recruitment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Independent Review of Children's Social Care final report, published on 23 March 2023, whether it is her Department's policy for newly qualified social workers not in a pathfinder area to focus on the early career framework outlined in that Review.

Claire Coutinho: The department has committed to developing a new Early Career Framework (ECF) for social workers, significantly extending the training and support social workers receive at the beginning of their career. As set out in 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', our children's social care implementation strategy, the initial induction period for all social workers will be extended to two years with an offer of further training and development up to five years. The programme will be underpinned by a new framework document, setting out the knowledge and skills social workers need to support and protect children and families.The department will select a small number of early adopter local authorities to work with us during the early stages of designing the ECF programme. Initially, these will be local authorities that are already running an extended early career programme beyond the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) before we expand to a wider range of local authorities. We will explore how we can make the ECF an entitlement for all new child and family social workers from 2026. Ahead of a national roll out, all social workers not in early adopter local authorities will continue to be supported through the ASYE to help them adapt to the reality of child and family social work and make a strong start in their careers.

Family Hubs

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made with Cabinet colleagues on rolling out the Family Hubs programme.

Claire Coutinho: On 9 February 2023, the government announced a number of updates which demonstrate positive progress in delivering the manifesto commitment to champion family hubs and their continued commitment to ensure every baby has the best start in life. The announcement included:Publication of a progress report on delivering the government’s Best Start for Life vision, written in consultation with Dame Andrea Leadsom MP in her capacity as the government’s early years adviser. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-start-for-life-a-vision-for-the-1001-critical-days.The extension of Dame Andrea Leadsom’s term as the government’s early years adviser.Confirmation that all 75 eligible local authorities have successfully signed up to the £300 million Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.The names of local authorities which have been successful in their bid to become trailblazers, leading the way on ambitious programme delivery and supporting other areas with their expertise.Publication of guidance for local authorities on publishing ‘Start for Life Offers’ and setting up Parent and Carer Panels, both form part of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme.The names of the final five local authorities enrolled on the £12 million Family Hubs Transformation Fund, building on the seven local authorities that were announced in May 2022.An additional £28 million has also been made available to the 75 local authorities to improve children's home learning environments, helping them to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-of-families-to-benefit-from-local-support-in-rollout-of-family-hubs.Thousands of parents and carers across England will be able to access local, co-ordinated support and advice in raising a family, through the 75 upper tier local authorities that have received investment from the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.The 75 upper tier local authorities who are eligible for this Family Hubs and Start for Life funding were announced on 2 April 2022. The Programme Guide and sign up process was launched in August 2022 and all 75 local authorities have now signed up to the programme. We are now working with local authorities on their delivery plans.Local authorities will be expected to open family hubs in the first half of 2023 and meet programme expectations by the end of March 2025.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Rehabilitation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the HMPPS proposal for the model of the Next Generation of Accredited Programmes.

Damian Hinds: HMPPS is working to improve quality of delivery, align programmes with the latest international evidence about what works to reduce reoffending, better invest in Continuous Professional Development for delivery staff, and increase evaluation of programme impact and outcomes. These serve as the core foundation around which the ongoing design and development of future Accredited Programmes is centred.

Probation Service: Sexual Offences

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the minimum level of training needed for Probation staff working in the Divisional Sex Offender Units within the Probation Service.

Damian Hinds: Probation staff who deliver accredited programmes in the Regional Sexual Offending Units are required to successfully complete a specific training programme provided by Interventions Services within His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Initial accredited programme training is mandatory, delivered both face-to-face and remotely. Following this, facilitators receive ongoing supervision and development. As an organisation committed to continued professional development for facilitators, we are currently reviewing the requirements for facilitator learning and development.

Prisoners: Rehabilitation

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support prisoners reintegrate into society.

Damian Hinds: Effective resettlement of prison leavers is a core part of our efforts to reduce re-offending. This includes making sure someone has a home, family links where appropriate, access to healthcare, a job or further education, and/or access to benefits.We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. The proportion of prisoners released from custody employed at six months rose by almost two thirds between April 2021 and March 2022. That is an increase of nine percentage points, from 14% to 23%.We also know that supporting prisoners to tackle addictions is important to reduce reoffending. MoJ is investing up to £120m to support more offenders into treatment – including increasing the number of Incentivised Substance Free Living units to up to 100, and establishing up to 18 new, abstinence-only Drug Recovery Wings.Our temporary accommodation service is designed to ensure that prison leavers at risk of homelessness have a stable base on release, improving their opportunities for employment.The introduction of Resettlement Passports will bring together the key information and services that are needed to resettle in the community, such as bank accounts, CVs and identity documents to prove the right to work and rent.

Treasury

Sanctions: Legal Costs

Liam Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many sanctioned individuals have been granted sanctions waivers to finance legal costs in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

Liam Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total value of sanctions waivers granted to allow sanctioned individuals to access finance for legal costs in (a) 2022, (b) 2021 and (c) 2020.

Liam Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value of licenses issued for legal payments to Discreet Law from sanctioned individuals since 2020.

James Cartlidge: The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) does not disclose data from specific licences it has granted under UK sanctions regimes. Information about numbers of licences granted can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review which is publicly available on OFSI’s website.

Fuels: Excise Duties

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has accrued to the Treasury from fuel duty in each of the last three years.

James Cartlidge: The Office for Budget Responsibility holds Government receipts from all taxes and duties for each year. Revenue accrued from fuel duty receipts in each of the last three years can be viewed online in their Public Finances Databank:Data - Office for Budget Responsibility (obr.uk)

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Developing Countries: Literacy

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle learning poverty in middle-income countries.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO has used its influence to garner global support for tackling learning poverty. In 2022, we co-published the State of Learning Poverty Update with coalition on learning partners and launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning to reduce learning poverty by 50 percent by 2030. We run basic education programmes in middle-income countries including Bangladesh, Jordan and Nigeria to address learning poverty. We have invested in leading education research including the What Works Hub for education, which supports learning between middle-income countries such as Brazil, Pakistan and Kenya to understand what works to reduce learning poverty.

Developing Countries: Literacy

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle learning poverty in low-income countries.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO prioritises addressing learning poverty. This is reflected in the two Global Objectives we secured through our 2021 G7 Presidency: getting 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by age ten by 2026. In 2022 we launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning to reduce learning poverty by 50 percent by 2030. We have invested in research to understand how to tackle learning poverty in low-income countries through the RISE programme and the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel reports. We implement basic education programmes in many low-income countries including in Ethiopia and Malawi.

Developing Countries: Literacy

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve literacy for girls and women.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO prioritises foundational learning for all - basic reading, maths and socio-emotional skills. We support this through the UK Girls' Education Challenge programme, which has helped over a million girls and women make progress in education. Through our 2021 G7 Presidency we secured endorsement of two global objectives, including 20 million more girls reading by age ten by 2026. We have invested in leading research to understand how to improve learning globally. In 2022, we launched the Commitment to Action on foundational learning. The UK's commitment to the Global Partnership for Education and bilateral programmes champions quality basic education.

Developing Countries: Education

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of its education programmes on children’s foundational learning.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The 2022 Independent Commission for Aid Impact report rated the FCDO's education results between 2015-2020 as 'green/amber', demonstrating the effectiveness of our programmes in supporting a decent education for children. The report recommended FCDO accelerate work with partner governments to improve its ability to collect and use good data on children's learning. As a result, we have developed a new Data for Foundational Learning programme, of up to £27 million (2023 - 2027), to strengthen the data on children's learning in low- and middle-income countries. Additionally, we are working to improve our results framework to better measure impact on improving learning.

Developing Countries: Education

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to increase the level of Official Development Assistance allocated for education, including for literacy and numeracy projects, in countries with low literacy rates.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is one of the most generous global aid donors, spending £11 billion in 2021, much of it through FCDO interventions. We will focus future spend in line with the International Development Strategy, particularly focusing on support for women and girls, while maximising value for money and flexibility to respond to new priority issues. Development is not only about Official Development Assistance. UK support to global education also includes valuable partnerships and the power to convene others, such as through our co-hosting of the Global Education Summit in 2021, which raised $4 billion for the Global Partnership for Education.

Russia: Sanctions

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to introduce sanctions under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 on (a) S.V. Kolesnikov, (b) Oleg Viktorovich Alypov, (c) Marina Andreevna Bobek and (d) Anna Evgenievna Potychko of the Prosecutors Office of the Russian Federation following the detention of Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government does not speculate on future designations as to do so could reduce their impact. To date, the UK has sanctioned more than 1200 individuals and 130 entities through its Russia Sanctions Regime. Under the UK's Global Human Rights Regime, the Government has sanctioned more than 80 individuals and entities.The UK continues to raise Mr Kara-Murza's case with the Russian authorities and call for his release. British Embassy officials have attended Vladimir Kara-Murza's court hearings, the most recent being on 8 February. We will continue to attend, but remain vigilant to attempts by the Russian government to exclude diplomats from future hearings.

Sanctions: Russia

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to launch a formal review of (a) the effectiveness of sanctions on Russia and (b) potential changes to improve the effectiveness of those sanctions.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We monitor the effectiveness of all of our sanctions, including on Russia and keep our sanctions legislation and structures under constant review to ensure that they are as effective as possible. Sanctions are imposing significant costs on the Russian economy. Its budget is in deficit and is expected to remain so until 2025. Russia's imports of sanctioned goods are down by 50 per cent and have declined from both sanctioning countries and countries who have not imposed sanctions on Russia. This is disrupting and degrading Russia's military capabilities.

Cuba: Sanctions

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of comments made by Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressing Iran's definite support for Cuba and condemning sanctions and foreign interference against Havana.

David Rutley: UK policy towards Cuba is not affected by comments made by Iran's Foreign Minister. The UK has a longstanding policy of engagement with Cuba. Our relationship allows us to collaborate positively in areas of mutual interest and to talk frankly on matters where our views and interests differ. We have consistently voted in the UN to oppose the US embargo on Cuba. We continue to draw attention to human rights violations in Iran and Cuba.

Iran: Females

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Iranian counterpart on the treatment of Iranian women campaigning for their rights.

David Rutley: The UK has made it abundantly clear that Iran must cease its violent repression of women and girls. Since October, the Foreign Secretary has ordered the summoning of Iran's Chargé d'Affaires five times over its human rights violations, including the regime's abhorrent treatment of women protesters. These messages are regularly reinforced through our Ambassador in Tehran. We also worked with partners to successfully remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. These actions ensure the Iranian regime is left in no doubt about the UK's position. We continue to work closely with our international partners to hold Iran to account.

Official Visits

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Ministers of foreign governments notify the Government of their intention to visit the UK, and whether records are kept of such visits.

David Rutley: The FCDO maintains records of State and Guest of Government visits by a Head of State, Head of Government or Foreign Minister travelling to the UK at our invitation.The FCDO is also notified of official, working and on occasion private visits of Ministers of foreign governments although this is not a requirement. We engage with Missions on these visits to offer guidance and to gather information for immigration purposes for UK Border Force.

Department for Work and Pensions

Unemployment: Insomnia

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of insomnia on the likelihood of people not being in employment or training.

Tom Pursglove: No assessment has been made. However, the Government has funded an extension of the Midlands’ Mental Health and Productivity Pilot, which is trialling interventions, including one with a focus on insomnia, to support and improve employee mental health and wellbeing, to support employees to remain in work. The final evaluation will be available by Spring 2024. In addition, a range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people, and people with health conditions, including insomnia, to start, stay, and succeed in, work. These include: Increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance;Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;The Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants;Access to Work grants towards the extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;Disability Confident, encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues employees face in the workplace;The Information and Advice Service, providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting and managing health and disability in the workplace; andSupport in partnership between the DWP and the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions.

Access to Work Scheme: Visual Impairment

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the time taken for those joining the Access to Work scheme on people with sight loss accessing employment.

Tom Pursglove: Access to Work has received a significant increase in applications over the last year and we have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make decisions. Customers making new applications where they are starting work within the next four weeks, or have a grant coming to an end that requires renewal, are prioritised to ensure customers can enter and remain in the labour market. The department is working hard to reduce the wait times for all disabled people. All processes are kept under review in the light of management information and feedback from stakeholders including, for example, the recommendations from the recent Royal National Institute of Blind People report.

Employment: Visual Impairment

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations in the report by the Royal National Institute of Blind People entitled Access to Work: People with sight loss cannot wait any longer for action, published on 26 January 2023.

Tom Pursglove: Access to Work has received a significant increase in applications over the last year, and we have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make decisions. Customers making new applications where they are starting work within the next 4 weeks, or have a grant coming to an end that requires renewal, are prioritised to ensure customers are able to enter and remain in the labour market. The department is working hard to reduce the wait times for all disabled people, with all processes being kept under review, including in the context of the recommendations from the Royal National Institute of Blind People report. The Royal National Institute of Blind People report included recommendations such as whether the DWP could reintroduce some of the easements that were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has already been considered and, alongside prioritising people with a job start within the next 4 weeks, easements like a revised ‘light touch’ renewals process have been put in place. Longer term, we are also transforming the Access to Work service through increased digitalisation, that will make the service more efficient, make the application process easier, and improve the time taken from application through to decision.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Poultry: UK Trade with EU

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of concluding a SPS agreement with the EU on the UK poultry industry’s volume of trade with that region.

Mark Spencer: The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement puts in place a framework that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. Defra has utilised these mechanisms to agree specific easements, such as to allow the movement of birds through Avian Influenza zones on their way to slaughter, facilitating trade between GB and the EU in relation to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza). We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction between GB and the EU, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise sovereignty over our own laws.

Poultry: Avian Influenza

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has held recent discussions with the Animal and Plant Health Agency in relation to (a) the potential merits of lifting avian influenza control zones and (b) the impact of those zones on the UK poultry industry.

Mark Spencer: Defra is in regular discussion with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). We recognise the distress this awful disease can have on bird keepers and APHA officials on the ground will continue to provide guidance and support to those impacted. Protection Zones and Captive Bird Monitoring (Controlled) Zones must remain in force for at least 21 days and Surveillance Zones for at least 30 days following the completion of preliminary cleansing and disinfection at the infected premises. However, disease control zones are only lifted once all disease control and surveillance activities in the zones have been successfully completed and there are no suspect cases under investigation in the zones. Further cases within the disease control zones will also ‘reset the clock’ for zone lifting. The audit work undertaken to lift zones is required as part of requirements from trading partners. Defra’s approach to avian influenza control is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. Our approach aims to reduce adverse impacts on the rural and wider economy, the public, rural communities and the environment (including impact on wildlife), whilst protecting public health and minimising the overall cost of any outbreak. Current policy reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control.

Hunting

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the League Against Cruel Sports report, entitled Hunt Havoc: The Human Cost of Hunting With Hounds, published in October 2022, what consideration she has given to possible steps to protect pets and domestic animals.

Trudy Harrison: The ‘Hunt Havoc’ report describes a number of incidents across the country involving hunts and calls for the Government to amend the Hunting Act to better protect not only wild animals but the British public, their property, and right to enjoy the countryside in peace. While such incidents are clearly concerning, and although we cannot comment on individual cases, most of the incidents described in the report are of a nature that would be likely to qualify as trespass or nuisance. Other activities such as trespassing on railways, livestock worrying, and threatening or abusive behaviour are already statutory offences. Under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 it is an offence to allow any dog to be out of control in any place. Furthermore, section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 allows a complaint to be made to a Magistrates’ court by any individual, the police, or local authorities where dogs are dangerous and not kept under proper control. The court may make any order it considers appropriate to require owners to keep their dogs under proper control. The Government has made a manifesto commitment not to change the Hunting Act, and I am satisfied that it would be unnecessary to set out specific offences under the Hunting Act when they are already covered under common law and statute. Where members of the public have evidence of such offences occurring, they should report it to the relevant authorities. Those found guilty of such offences should be subject to the full force of the law.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Recruitment

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

Mark Spencer: The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Moorland

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make a comparative assessment of the wider economic benefits on alternative uses of moorland where grouse shooting (a) does and (b) does not take place.

Trudy Harrison: Moorland soils and habitats provide a range of public goods. These include carbon storage, water storage, biodiversity, and heritage. We introduced the introductory level of the Sustainable Farming Incentive moorland standard in 2022. This focuses on assessing moorland to identify which of these benefits the moorland already provides, and opportunities to maintain or enhance these benefits. ELM is currently developing additional options for moorland that build on the moorland assessment that we launched last year as part of SFI22.

Home Office

Police: Recruitment

Scott Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much police forces spent on campaigns aimed at diversifying their recruitment in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Miss Sarah Dines: The recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers across England and Wales is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to support all forces become more representative of the communities they serve.The Home Office does not hold information on how much forces have spent on local recruitment campaigns. Decisions on the use of funding & resource are an operational matter for Chief Constables & Police and Crime Commissioners who are best placed to make decisions based on local knowledge and experience.

Metropolitan Police: Assessments

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Metropolitan Police Service recruits were identified as cheating in any part of the assessment process in each of the last three years.

Miss Sarah Dines: Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, in the case of the Metropolitan Police the Mayor of London, and are therefore managed locally by forces. This is done within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing.The Home Office does not hold information on the number of candidates identified as cheating during the assessment process.

Organised Crime: Smuggling

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle criminal smuggler gangs.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Government is committed to tackling the ruthless criminal gangs who facilitate illegal immigration, risk lives and damage communities by smuggling people, firearms and drugs into the UK.We are working to end small boat crossings and disrupt the organised crime groups behind this activity. Through Project INVIGOR, a multi-agency taskforce, the Home Office is leading efforts to tackle organised immigration crime and the National Crime Agency is responding to and dismantling the business model used by organised criminals to enable illegal entry into the UK.We are strengthening the security of the UK border against drug trafficking, increasing disruptions and seizures and dismantling supply chains.As part of the Government’s ten-year Drugs Strategy, the Home Office is investing £300m over three years to deliver an end-to-end plan attacking every phase of the supply chain, making the UK a significantly harder place for organised crime groups involved in drugs supply to operate.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been transferred under the mandatory provisions of the National Transfer Scheme since 23 November 2021, broken down by local authority.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will undertake an assessment of the risk of unaccompanied children going missing from hotels in which they have been housed by the Home Office under the National Transfer Scheme at particular times in the transfer process based on the experience and testimony of children who have gone missing and been found; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: The National Transfer Scheme (NTS) transferred 3,148 children transferred to local authorities between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2022. This compares to 739 children transferred in the same time frame in the previous year, a 326% increase. With the increase in the numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC), we are working closely with local authorities to find more appropriate long-term care placements under the NTS. We are also providing local authorities with children’s services with £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023. National Transfer Scheme data is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rasi-resettlement-asylum-support-and-integration-data-q3-2022 This data is broken down by local authority however as the data is published quarterly it is not possibly to split out the number of transfers from a specific date mid quarter. The Home Office has robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. The young people in hotels are not detained and are free to leave the accommodation, in line with standard local authority accommodation for looked after children. To minimise the risk of a child going missing, records of children leaving and retuning to the hotel are kept and monitored. Support workers accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol supports safeguarding planning and prevention. The local authority chairs a multi-agency forum for any young person missing from a hotel, in conjunction with the police and Home Office. When used correctly, similar protocols within police forces have reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%. Intelligence gathered in relation to young people who went missing from hotels and are subsequently located is fed into the appropriate agencies for consideration.

Asylum: Children

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 129805 on Asylum: Children, how many of the risks in the risk register are scored as (a) red, (b) amber and (c) green as of 31 January 2023.

Robert Jenrick: Due to operational reasons, we are unable to release this information.

National Crime Agency: Immigration

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Statement by the Prime on Illegal Immigration of 13tDecember 202, Official Report column 885, what the total budget of the National Crime Agency for organised immigration crime was in (a) November 2022 and (b)January2023.

Robert Jenrick: The NCA’s budget for the 2022-23 financial year is £800 million. The NCA prioritises resources to target offenders operating across a range of serious and organised crime threats, including Organised Immigration Crime.

Slavery

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on (a) recruiting and (b) appointing a new Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

Robert Jenrick: The role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) as set out in the 2015 Modern Slavery Act is to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims. The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the role of Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and has committed to running a new open competition to recruit for this role; the process will begin shortly. The competition will be conducted as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring we take the necessary steps to recruit the best person for the role.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support innovation in developing new non-animal technologies and approaches in science.

George Freeman: The Government is committed to the development of alternatives to using animals in scientific procedures and through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), which works to drive the uptake of non-animal technologies. The NC3Rs, UKRI and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory have developed a Non-Animal Technologies Roadmap setting out a 2030 vision and strategy for how non-animal technologies could be used to replace the use of animals in research across a number of sectors. The NC3Rs also has set out its strategy to increase the focus on animal replacement technologies.

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential for increasing the (a) development and (b) use of alternatives to experiments on animals.

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the use of non-animal (a) technologies and (b) approaches in scientific research.

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for research into technology to replace the use of animals in research and testing.

George Freeman: The Government is committed to the development of alternatives to using animals in scientific procedures and continues to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) for the use of animals in scientific procedures. This is achieved through UK Research and Innovation’s funding of the National Centre for the 3Rs, which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of non-animal technologies, and through research into the development of alternatives by Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Arts and Music: Artificial Intelligence

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the use of artificial intelligence to collect literature, art, and music data; and whether she is taking steps to support (a) individuals and (b) businesses in those industries with data management.

Paul Scully: The Government is aware of the rapid technological progress in AI, and the Office for AI is developing an adaptive and proportionate regulatory framework for AI, to be published in a forthcoming AI regulation white paper.In terms of the specific implications for copyrighted works, the UK has a world leading copyright and IP protection regime. We know how important this is for the continued success of our creative industries and we want to maintain it.We also have ambitions to be a world leader in AI innovation and research. This is why the Government consulted on whether it should be easier to use text and data mining techniques with copyright material.However, we recognise the concerns of the creative industries and want to make sure we get the balance between protecting rights holders and promoting digital innovation rights.We are confident that together we can design a balanced approach which supports the Government’s ambitions on AI innovation without critically undermining value for rights holders.Finally, the Intellectual Property Office is working closely with stakeholders from across the music industry to improve metadata practices in music streaming, to support creators being credited and paid promptly and accurately.

Broadband

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of whether her Department's broadband connectivity targets will be met by 2025.

Paul Scully: Project Gigabit is the government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Its objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with broadband suppliers’ commercial delivery, support the government’s target of nationwide gigabit-capable broadband by 2030.Today, more than 73% of UK premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband, up from just 6% in January 2019. We are on track to achieve our milestone target of 85% by the end of 2025.Building Digital UK has set out the baseline trajectory to meet this target, and publishes quarterly updates on the progress of Project Gigabit.

Pornography

Miriam Cates: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what representations her Department has received from the pornography industry in the last 12 months; and how many meetings her Department has had with representatives of the industry in that time.

Paul Scully: Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of online safety stakeholders on a variety of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published on the Gov.uk website every quarter.

Department for Business and Trade

Zero hours Contracts

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban zero-hours contracts.

Kevin Hollinrake: Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers where there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study. The Government is determined to tackle unfair working practices. For example, we have extended the existing ban on exclusivity clauses, which restrict staff from working for multiple employers, to contracts where the guaranteed weekly income is equivalent to or below the Lower Earnings Limit of £123 a week. We are also supporting my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South's Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill, to ensure that workers have the right to request a more predictable working pattern. Qualifying workers would be able to make an application to change their existing contract if it lacks predictability in terms of the hours they are required to work, the times they are required to work, and/or the duration of their contract.

Armed Conflict: Ukraine

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on which companies operating in the UK have made profits due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kevin Hollinrake: Information on UK companies is made available publicly on the register at Companies House, including their annual accounts. The Department does not hold the necessary information that would attribute companies’ reported profits directly or indirectly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Productivity: Insomnia

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the impact of insomnia on UK productivity.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: We have no plans to make an assessment of the impact on insomnia on UK productivity.

Driverless Vehicles: Finance

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what funding her Department has made available for commercial self-driving (a) passenger and (b) freight services.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government has allocated £66 million R&D funding to the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles to pilot commercially sustainable deployments of self-driving passenger and freight services and support a growing, UK-based supply chain.

Motor Vehicles: Carbon Emissions

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding her Department has provided for the decarbonisation of the automotive industry since 2010.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government has put in place a comprehensive R&D and capital investment programme to deliver a UK led solution to the decarbonisation of road transport. Government and industry have jointly committed more than £1.3 billion to support innovative projects through the Advanced Propulsion Centre, accelerating the commercialisation of strategically important vehicle technologies. Alongside this ambitious R&D programme, the Government is committed to growing our electric vehicle supply chain. That is why in 2021 the Net Zero Strategy announced £350m of funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund. This funding is additional to the £500m announced in 2020 as part of the 10 Point Plan. The automotive sector is also benefiting from £541m funding from the UKRI cross-sector Faraday Battery Challenge and £80m from the Driving the Electric Revolution programmes.

Motor Vehicles: Employment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an estimate of the number of jobs that are supported (a) directly by and (b) through the supply chain of the automotive industry.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: In 2021, the automotive manufacturing sector accounted for 155,000 direct jobs and estimated to support an additional 347,000 indirect jobs elsewhere in the economy. ONS Employee Jobs data does not separately report employment by propulsion-type of car manufactured.

Electric Vehicles: Batteries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an estimate of the number of electric vehicle batteries that were produced in the UK in (a) 2010, (b) 2015, (c) 2020 and (d) 2022.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: This information is not held centrally.

BritishVolt: Insolvency

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the closure of Britishvolt.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As part of our efforts to see British companies succeed in the industry, the Government offered significant support to Britishvolt through the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF). Full due diligence was completed before a final grant offer letter was awarded.Funding was designed so that agreed milestones had to be achieved for the company to drawdown any funds.  These milestones were not met and therefore no ATF funds were paid to Britishvolt.The Government want to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing as we transition to electric vehicles. That includes investing record sums in battery R&D – such as the recent announcement of £211 million into the Faraday Battery Challenge, which will help deliver 100,000 jobs in battery gigafactories and the battery supply chain by 2040.

Postal Services

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with Post Office Limited on the future strategy of its Drop and Collect service.

Kevin Hollinrake: Government has robust mechanisms in place to maintain oversight of Post Office Limited and regularly engages with the company on various live issues, including Post Office Limited’s approach to Drop and Collect. For example, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State attends monthly meetings with Post Office Limited’s CEO and officials attend quarterly shareholder meetings between the Department and Post Office Limited.

Conditions of Employment: Standards

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to help improve workers’ rights in the period since the UK's departure from the EU.

Kevin Hollinrake: Protecting and enhancing workers’ rights whilst supporting business to grow remains a priority for this Government.The Government is backing six Private Members’ Bills helping new parents, unpaid carers, hospitality workers, giving all employees easier access to flexible working, and giving workers’ a right to request a more predictable contract.This is in addition to previous reforms we have delivered since leaving the EU including; increasing pay for around 2.5 million workers, extending the ban on exclusivity clauses, quadrupling the maximum fine for employers who treat their workers badly, and creating a new statutory leave for parents who suffer the loss of a child.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Tidal Power: Companies

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) investment and (b) growth of tidal stream companies in coastal communities in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK.

Graham Stuart: Tidal stream companies are eligible to apply for the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, the UK’s main mechanism for supporting low-carbon generation. Over 40MW of new tidal stream power was secured in Scotland and Wales by four developers last year. The next CfD round, including tidal stream, will take place in March 2023. Since 2003 Government has provided innovation funding of £175m to the wave and tidal sectors. Tidal stream projects are also eligible for a suite of research funding programmes including the UK Research and Innovation matched Horizon funding.

Energy: Meters

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will take steps to stop the remote switching of smart meters to prepayment mode for vulnerable households.

Graham Stuart: Energy suppliers are obligated under licence conditions to follow strict rules when switching a smart meter from credit to prepayment mode, to safeguard consumers. Suppliers must only provide a prepayment service when a consumer is in debt where they assess that it is safe and reasonably practicable to do so. The supplier's assessment should include identifying any vulnerability, such as a disability that prevents a consumer from being able to use appropriately a prepayment meter or customers that require a continuous energy supply for health reasons. If energy suppliers assess it is safe and reasonably practicable, they must then give at least seven days’ notice in advance of the change from credit to prepay mode on the smart meter. The regulator, Ofgem, is reviewing energy supplier compliance with these requirements and has made it clear it will take strong action where suppliers have failed to follow them.

Energy: Private Rented Housing

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation on Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes published on 30 September 2020.

Graham Stuart: The Government has carefully analysed the responses received to the consultation and is considering how to ensure the costs relating to energy efficiency improvement are fair and proportionate to landlords and tenants. The Government will publish a response in due course.

Energy: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answers of 11 January to Question 14828 and of 31 January to Question 130110 on Energy: Meters, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to require energy suppliers to demonstrate they are acting as a last resort in seeking a warrant to install a prepayment meter in a household with vulnerable residents.

Graham Stuart: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a five-point plan to tackle concerning behaviour by energy suppliers, including a call for suppliers voluntarily to stop forced prepayment switching. Following recent findings by the Times, Ofgem has asked suppliers to pause the installation of prepayment meters under warrant until they have assured Ofgem that they are compliant with all relevant regulations and obligations. The Secretary of State has asked domestic energy suppliers what steps they are taking to identify consumers who may have had a prepayment meter installed inappropriately, and confirm that where such customers are identified, appropriate action will be taken.

Energy: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January to Question 130106 on Energy: Meters, tabled on 23 January 2023, what the deadline is for energy suppliers to share the number of warrants that they have applied for in recent months; and when he plans to publish that information.

Graham Stuart: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to suppliers on 21 January. I also wrote to suppliers on 27 January and confirmed that the Government expects to receive the warrant data within two weeks. The Government will examine the data carefully and publish it as soon as possible.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much his Department has invested to advance offshore wind to meet the 50GW capacity target since December 2021.

Graham Stuart: The multi-million-pound Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is the Government’s main mechanism for supporting deployment of Offshore Wind in Great Britain. CfD Allocation Round (AR) 4 was the biggest ever auction and secured a record 7GW of new capacity. Government committed last year to running annual CfD Allocation Rounds, starting with AR5 in March 2023. Through the Offshore Manufacturing Investment Scheme (OWMIS) and floating wind counterpart (FLOWMIS), the Government has also made £160 million of investment available to upgrade ports and manufacturing infrastructure across the UK.

Climate Change: International Cooperation

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much of the funding announced in the UK Nationally Determined Contribution to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has been spent; and on which projects.

Graham Stuart: In the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to double the International Climate Finance (ICF) contribution from £5.8 billion in 2016/17-2020/21 to £11.6 billion in 2021/22-2025/26. The Government publishes ICF spending through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in line with our international obligations. The most recent data can be found here UK's Eighth National Communication and Fifth Biennial Report under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change  The next report, which will cover ICF spent in 2021 and 2022 is due at the end of 2024. The UK’s Biennial Finance Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at https://unfccc.int/Art.9.5-biennial-communications has more details on the UK’s ICF commitments and there is further information about the programmes supported through the ICF at https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/department and on the results achieved at ICF Results Publication 2022

Energy: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to suspend the right of retail energy companies to seek warrants for pre-payment meter installations while the Ofgem market-wide review investigates the use of such meters.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem have asked energy suppliers to pause the installation of prepayment meters under warrant until they have assured Ofgem they are compliant with all relevant regulations and obligations. The Government’s 5-point plan on PPMs includes coordination with Ofgem in ensuring they take a more robust approach to make sure suppliers are complying with rules. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked suppliers to report back on the steps they have planned to identify customers who may have had a PPM installed inappropriately and confirm that appropriate action will be taken in these instances.

Energy: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households in which a resident is (a) a pensioner, (b) under 18 years old, (c) disabled and (d) chronically sick have had a pre-payment meter force-fitted since 1 October 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Department does not hold this data. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to suppliers on 4 February setting out that suppliers must identify customers who may have had a prepayment meter inappropriately installed, and where such customers are identified, take appropriate action.

Energy: Meters

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January to Question 114831 on Powers of Entry: Meters, if his Department will request Ofgem to (a) make an estimate of how many households in which a resident is (i) over state pension age, (ii) under 18 years old, (iii) disabled and (iv) chronically sick have had a pre-payment meter force-fitted since 1 October 2022 and (b) publish that estimate.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem does not hold this data. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s recent letter to suppliers sets out that suppliers must identify where a vulnerability, such as the above mentioned, exists among prepayment customers, and take appropriate action.

Natural Gas: Hydrogen

Andy Carter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help ensure that gas networks are ready for a 20% hydrogen blend by the end of this year.

Graham Stuart: The Government is aiming to reach a policy decision in 2023 on whether to allow blending of up to 20% hydrogen by volume into the gas distribution networks. This could generate carbon-savings of up to 6-7% on current GB grid gas consumption.  The Government is working with the networks and industry to build the necessary evidence base to determine whether blending meets the required safety standards, is feasible and represents value for money.

Energy: Meters

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will take steps to help ensure that prepayment meters are removed from vulnerable households.

Graham Stuart: My Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State wrote to suppliers on 4 February asking them to outline what steps they will take to identify consumers with an inappropriately installed prepayment meter. He confirmed the Government’s expectation that where such customers are identified, appropriate steps will be taken to rectify the situation.

British Petroleum: Carbon Emissions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the impact of BP's emission reduction targets on the UK's net zero target.

Graham Stuart: BP’s emission reduction targets are for its global business rather than just the UK. The company still has to finalise how it will make all such reductions. It is therefore not possible to make such an assessment.

British Petroleum: Carbon Emissions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has held recent discussions with representatives from BP on (a) corporate social responsibility or (b) the role of energy companies in achieving net zero.

Graham Stuart: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State met BP with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 9 January and discussed security of energy supply, including the company’s planned investments in the UK to 2030, covering oil and gas, CCUS, hydrogen, wind and electric vehicle charging projects.

British Petroleum: Finance

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether BP has received any public funds in the last three years.

Graham Stuart: The number and variety of business structures bp operates in in the UK make it difficult to determine what public funding the company may have received. However if such funding has been provided, it will have been on the same basis as it would have been available to others. The company decided not to apply for the funding made available to businesses by the Government to compensate them for the impact of the pandemic. It did, however, provide public support at that time, for example providing free fuel to the emergency services.

Heat Pumps: Training

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the accreditation process is for heat pump installers under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Graham Stuart: In order to participate under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, installers must first submit a request to create an account with the scheme administrator, Ofgem. Only Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certified installers, who are members of a Consumer Code that ensures customers are protected by a Trading Standards Institute Approved Code of Practice, are eligible to create an account and carry out work under the scheme. This ensures high standards for consumer protection.

Energy Bills Rebate: Internet

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 124129 on Energy Bills Rebate: Standards and to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 135481 on Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes, for what reason the opening of the application portal was delayed.

Graham Stuart: The Government is still working through several aspects of the scheme that are vital for its successful delivery. There are significant complexities in delivering a novel scheme with a wide variety of eligible groups with different energy arrangements. In addition, the Government must always ensure consumers are protected, public money is well spent, including robust verification and anti-fraud checks, and that local authorities are suitably prepared to deliver the support. The online application portal, and accompanying contact centre helpline for those without online access, will be launched by 27 February.

Energy Bills Rebate: Standards

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 124129 on Energy Bills Rebate: Standards and to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 135481 on Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes, what steps his Department is taking to roll-out financial programmes in a timely manner.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) is currently in its pilot phase and is accepting live applications in some pilot local authority areas, which is helping the government and local authorities to refine the end-to-end user journey before full scheme launch. The online application portal, and accompanying contact centre helpline, will be open to all eligible households by 27 February, and the Government is working closely with local authorities to ensure they are suitably prepared to provide this support by this date.

Energy Bills Rebate: Internet

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 124130 on Energy Bills Rebate, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of potential delays in implementing the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding programme on household finances.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to delivering support for those households without a direct relationship to a domestic energy supplier as quickly as possible. The Government is working closely with local authorities to ensure that they are suitably prepared to deliver support to eligible households. Further updates on the scheme's launch will be provided in due course and therefore no assessment will be made.

Energy Bills Rebate: Internet

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 124130 on Energy Bills Rebate, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing compensation to people who have been financially affected by the delay in providing access to the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding programme portal.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide a £400 support payment to those households without a direct relationship to a domestic energy supplier and who have not received this support automatically through their energy provider. As such, these households will receive the same level of support with their energy bills as those consumers who have received their support automatically under the EBSS. Therefore, the Government will not be making an assessment on providing compensation to these households receiving the EBSS AF support.

Fuels: South Wales

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of disparities in retail prices for motor fuel in (a) Rhondda Cynon Taf authority and (b) South Wales.

Graham Stuart: The Government is aware that motor fuel prices can vary widely between local areas. Amongst other issues, the Competition and Markets Authority was asked to look at this concern in the initial market review in 2022. The CMA is investigating this in its market study and will publish its initial findings in an update report on 6 December 2022 that prices are likely to be higher at petrol stations where there are few or no competitors nearby. The Government welcomes the CMA’s decision to investigate these issues further and will carefully consider any recommendations made when it conclude its market study by 7 July 2023.

Fuels: Prices

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of policy solutions to local geographic price variations in retail fuel prices.

Graham Stuart: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is continuing its road fuel market study. The CMA’s investigations will focus on the relationship between wholesale and retail fuel prices, factors driving local and regional variations in prices, and the role played by major supermarkets in the road fuel retail sector. The final report, including any recommendations on next steps, will be published in the Spring with the final report published before the statutory deadline of 7 July. The Government will carefully consider the recommendations, as well as looking at pro consumer options, which could give drivers better access to fuel price data.

Northern Ireland Office

Government Departments: Northern Ireland

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on how many occasions he has met with the Permanent Secretaries in each Department in Northern Ireland, since the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in 2022.

Chris Heaton-Harris: I have held a roundtable with the Permanent Secretaries and their representatives. I have had three meetings with the Department for Finance Permanent Secretary and met with the head of the NI Civil Service numerous times.

Domestic Visits: Northern Ireland

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many times he has visited Northern Ireland since his appointment to his post.

Chris Heaton-Harris: I have visited Northern Ireland 22 times since my appointment.

Department for International Trade

Belarus and Russia: Iron and Steel

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the reliability of allegations that third party countries have been re-stamping steel products from Russia and Belarus for import into the UK market.

Nigel Huddleston: Over £20bn of UK-Russia trade is now under sanctions, with a 99.1% reduction in UK goods imports from Russia compared to before the invasion. The Government is committed to ensuring that third countries are not used by Russia to evade sanctions and takes such allegations seriously. We are working together with our international partners to stop any attempts to circumvent sanctions measures through third party countries. Anyone who directly or indirectly imports prohibited Russian iron or steel products – or facilitates its shipment to other countries from Russia – faces a heavy fine or imprisonment.

Russia: Sanctions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has he made of the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia in preventing UK companies from trading in Russia; and what steps she is taking to close loopholes in those sanctions.

Nigel Huddleston: The UK has wholly or partially sanctioned £20 billion of UK-Russia goods trade – 96% of 2021 values. Compared to before the invasion, UK goods imports from Russia have fallen by 99.1%, and goods exports to Russia have fallen by 80%. Additional sanctions on services trade will further erode Russia’s ability to keep pace with Western countries. Sanctions are starving Russia of advanced technologies and degrading their military capabilities, especially as many high-precision weapons rely on Western components.

Climate Change: International Cooperation

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department will take to align the UK to the principles of the Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate.

Nigel Huddleston: The UK is committed to ensure trade supports long-term climate action, in line with the Coalition of Trade Ministers’ principles of leadership, transparency, inclusivity and cooperation. The Secretary of State attended the launch of this at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January and we continue to advocate for collective action at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other multilateral fora. For example, the UK has been a leading voice on the proposed G7-led ‘Climate Club’ – aiming to make it as inclusive as possible. Meanwhile, we are supporting the Net Zero transition through our Clean Growth export programme, foreign direct investment, UK Export Finance, and through overseas aid.

Trade Agreements: USA

Scott Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has had discussions with representatives of the state government of (a) Alabama, (b) Mississippi and (c) Arkansas on securing memorandums of understanding on trade in the last two years.

Nigel Huddleston: We regularly engage states through our network of consulates on how we can enhance our strong, existing trade relationships. My predecessor also met with the Governor of Arkansas in April last year to discuss how we could boost trade further.We welcome continued interest from states in strengthening trade ties and will continue to focus on how best we can work together to deliver the greatest impact for business.

Department for International Trade: Vehicles

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many (a) fossil fuel-, (b) electric- and (c) hybrid-powered road-legal vehicles their Department purchased in the last 24 months.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department has not purchased any road legal vehicles in the past 24 months. It uses the Government Car Service for vehicle provision. Cars provided to Departments by the Government Car Service will be included in the return for the Department for Transport.

Trade Agreements: Drugs

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps she has taken to include the mutual recognition of pharmaceutical products in trade agreement negotiations.

Nigel Huddleston: The UK has secured a number of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) on Good Manufacturing Practices for pharmaceutical products in recent years. They comprise standalone MRAs with the US, Australia and New Zealand, with similar commitments contained in our Free Trade Agreements with Japan, Switzerland, Israel and Canada. New Free Trade Agreement negotiations are ongoing with Israel and Canada.

Economic Cooperation: South Carolina

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many meetings her (a) Ministers and (b) officials had with car manufacturers on the memorandum of understanding between the UK and South Carolina before the signing of that agreement.

Nigel Huddleston: Government officials and Ministers regularly engage with the automotive industry to support the growth of British businesses and address market access barriers. UK sector experts in the US engaged regularly with industry representatives in the formulation of the UK-South Carolina Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Trade officials further engaged the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and other industry representatives through the Department’s established Trade Advisory Groups. The UK will continue to engage industry in the delivery of this MOU in 2023.